The former chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) and retired Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Parry Benjamin Osemwegie Osayande, who died recently, has been described as ‘an erudite and consummate police officer who paid his dues as an exemplary police officer and visionary chairman of the commission.’
The PSC head of Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani, made the statement while paying tributes to the former cop, who died in Benin on Sunday, aged 88.
The statement reads: ‘DIG Osayande succeeded Chief Simon Okeke, who was the pioneer chairman of the commission. Osayande was appointed in April 2008 by President Goodluck Jonathan.
‘His tenure marked rapid growth of the commission, including the presidential approval for a corporate headquarters for the commission now standing in the Jabi District of Abuja.
‘DIG Parry Osayande was fearless, focused, and had a commanding presence, which gave the commission a lot of mileage during its formative period.
‘Chairman of the Commission, DIG Hashimu Argungu rtd mni, said the death of DIG Osayande was a great loss for the Commission. He called on Nigerians to remember the commission in their prayers in this trying period of losing two of its former chairmen within a month.’
Born in Benin in 1936, the late Osayande joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1960 and retired in 1992 as a Deputy Inspector-General (DIG).
Osayande was born on September 29, 1936, in Benin City to the family of Chief Osazuwa Osayande. His father was an Agricultural Officer. His mother was Princess Ebose Eweka, a housewife.
Osayande attended Immaculate Conception College, Benin City, between 1954 and 1958. He joined the police, where he attended several institutions such as the Police College, Ikeja, which he graduated from in 1960; the Detective Training School, Wakefield, England, which he graduated from in 1962; and the Police Staff College, Bramshill, England, which he graduated from in 1971. He was also at the Metropolitan College, Hendon, England; the Police Staff College, Jos; the Royal Institute of Public Administration, England; and the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).
Osayande was the Commissioner of Police of the defunct Bendel State during the Anini saga, which terrorised Nigeria in the 1980s and was instrumental in the arrest and prosecution of the suspect. In the 90s, he was also involved in quelling the religious riots in Bauchi State, which claimed several lives. Osayande led a Nigerian delegation to observe the elections in Namibia in 1992.
The Umar Yar’Adua administration appointed Osayande as the Chairman of the Police Reforms Committee in 2007/2008, and was subsequently appointed the Chairman of the Police Service Commission in 2008 by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, a position he held until 2013.
Osayande’s first appointment in the Nigerian police force was as a station officer of the central police station, Ibadan, in 1961. He was involved in quelling several uprisings in the Western Region and the Nigerian Civil War in the 1960s.